Once again, I am the Castle Coordinator at BrickCon in Seattle. This thread is for planning purposes. Lets get started!

Josh

Edit: I've just finished planning a new Castle event. I will be hosting a seige engine competition, in honor of the Con theme, "Imagination in Motion".

Here is the official writeup:

"Getting tired of the those pesky dwarf minifigs hanging around and getting in the way? Launch 'em! At BrickCon 09, Castle will be hosting a seige engine competition called "Dwarves for Distance". This event is in honor of the convention theme, "Imagination in Motion".

The basic idea is to build a LEGO dwarf launching machine. It must be entirely built out of LEGO, although allowances will be made for off-brand items such as rubber bands, string, etc. You can use gravity, electric motors, Power Functions, Mindstorms, whatever strikes your fancy, as long as its LEGO and it can launch a dwarf.

There will be two categories and trophies will be awarded. The first will be for Longest Launch. The second will be for most dwarves fired in 5 seconds. That's right. You can build a rapid fire dwarf launcher! However, in the timed event, any dwarf that travels less than 3 feet will not qualify as valid launch.

For the purposes of this competition, a dwarf will be defined as a minifig with stubby legs and a beard. It does not have to one of the official "Castle" dwarves.

Right. So. I am coming but I'll be flying for the first time this year so contributions will be limited. I am hoping to put together a small box of Base8 to ship up but it'll just be a few hills, rivers, and roads to spruce up the landscape. If we are going to do BPB this year some of you locals should consider hitting up an art store, grabbing a couple sheets of 3/16" foamcore (about $1.50 each) and making these. They proved utterly useful last year, but I doubt I'll have room for all the ones I have made.

I'll also try and bring my usual assortment of Brickconburg contributions. I am assuming at least one other person has a Medieval Market Village they'll be bringing so I spent a couple hours reconfiguring my MMV buildings so that they can be attached to the backsides of someone else's to form larger double-length buildings, which I think will look quite nice. I also felt that my other CC building(s) were a bit out-classed by the quality of the MMV buildings so I've been attempting to update them to a newer standard of construction. I think with all the MMVs out there we could have a really quality town with big marketplace this year if everybody brings their sets. Just hopefully it won't look too cookie-cutter, I'd encourage everyone to modify theirs in some way to set them apart.

Also I think it worth pointing out that this year's theme is "Motion," which is a shame since Josh's lake could have taken the cake last year but I'm hoping to bring at least one motorized MOC. I think epic battles are a great way to convey motion though, just sayin.

Hey Josh,I just wanted to express my sadness that I won't be bringing any big castles, since we're flying in from across the world. I'll be very limited in what I can bring. At the moment I don't know yet what I'll bring, but it doesn't look like I'll be contributing to the Castle layout, I'm afraid.

Between plotting to kill you all and chasing balls of yarn, I also build MOCs

BreadMan wrote:Also I think it worth pointing out that this year's theme is "Motion," which is a shame since Josh's lake could have taken the cake last year but I'm hoping to bring at least one motorized MOC. I think epic battles are a great way to convey motion though, just sayin.

I will also be bringing at least one thing that's motorized. Another epic battle is great idea. We didn't really have that last year. Be good to bring it back.

Aliencat wrote:Hey Josh,I just wanted to express my sadness that I won't be bringing any big castles, since we're flying in from across the world. I'll be very limited in what I can bring. At the moment I don't know yet what I'll bring, but it doesn't look like I'll be contributing to the Castle layout, I'm afraid.

I still don't know if I'll have the time/money to be there for private hours. I'm working on two MOCs right now that I'd like to have done in time, but that's questionable as well. If I do finish in time I'll try and be there with a 48x48 Samurai Fortress, and at least a 48x64 Arabian Castle. I've got multiple bricklink orders ahead of me before I can get even close to finishing either one though, so it'll be a struggle to get them done in time.

Okay, folks, here is a WIP pic of my part of the layout. I will be at the far left of the layout, as the tables will be three deep there. We will attach sections to mine as much as possible....try to fill in, etc. We have 47 feet of Castle area!